Haley says Hamas is trying to ‘earn favor’ with US by returning American hostages

Republican presidential candidate and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said Hamas is trying to “earn favor” with the US by returning hostages as the conflict between Hamas and Israel intensifies.

“This is what they do,” Haley said on Fox News, telling President Joe Biden not to “fall for it.”

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Biden announced on Friday the release of two American hostages taken by Hamas during the attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

“Two prayers have been answered and we’ve got 200 more to go,” said Haley. The Republican candidate, however, said that the safe return of Judith and Natalie Raanan should not be used to “weaken us.”

“What they’re doing is they’re going to throw two hostages out there for one, to see if they can weaken us to keep Israel from going into Gaza and two, because they want to see if they can get something out of it,” Haley said.

Haley also said Iran is concerned that Hamas will lose the war if Israel launches a successful ground invasion into Gaza.

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“We’ve got 200 more hostages in there and don’t forget what happened on Oct. 7,” Haley said.

As of Friday, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry has reported 4,137 Palestinian deaths. More than 1,400 have been killed in Israel.